Pharma turns to social media influencers

Social-media influencers aren’t just promoting clothes and fancy hotels any more — they’re now helping to sell prescription drugs.

Details: Most of these influencers are patients, according to STAT. They sign up with talent agencies, and then pharmaceutical companies come to those agencies looking for a patient willing to promote a particular drug.

“What has become obvious now is that micro-influencers, folks with smaller communities can have a dramatic impact on people’s behavior,” Jack Barrette, founder and CEO of Wego Health, a patient talent agency, told STAT.

Facebook is the top platform for this kind of engagement, followed by Instagram and Twitter, he said.

There are no restrictions on who can promote a drug, and if a campaign discusses a condition rather than a specific product, drug companies don’t have to disclose their involvement.

The potential $4 million drug

Novartis bought biotech company AveXis for $8.7 billion earlier this year, and executives are thinking about charging at least $4 million for AveXis' highly touted gene therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy, according to Endpoints News.

Why it matters: This would be the most expensive drug in the world, by far, if it gets FDA approval, and it would raise drug pricing concerns to a new level. As Walid Gellad, a medical professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies pharmaceuticals, mused today: "The fact that we can spread a price across thousands or millions of people does not justify a given price."